Prairie Edge

Conor Kerr

Book cover for Prairie Edge
Book cover for Prairie Edge
Book cover for Prairie Edge
Book cover for Prairie Edge

Prairie Edge

Prairie Edge

Conor Kerr

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Description

The Giller Prize-longlisted author of Avenue of Champions returns with a frenetic, propulsive crime thriller that doubles as a sharp critique of modern activism and challenges readers to consider what "Land Back" might really look like.

Meet Isidore "Ezzy" Desjarlais and Grey Ginther: two distant Métis cousins making the most of Grey's uncle's old trailer, passing their days playing endless games of cribbage and cracking cans of cheap beer in between. Grey, once a passionate advocate for change, has been hardened and turned cynical by an activist culture she thinks has turned performative and lazy. One night, though, she has a revelation, and enlists Ezzy, who is hopelessly devoted to her but eager to avoid the authorities after a life in and out of the group home system and jail, for a bold yet dangerous political mission: capture a herd of bison from a national park and set them free in downtown Edmonton, disrupting the churn of settler routine. But as Grey becomes increasingly single-minded in her newfound calling, their act of protest puts the pair and those close to them in peril, with devastating and sometimes fatal consequences.

For readers drawn to the electric storytelling of Morgan Talty and the taut register of Stephen Graham Jones, Conor Kerr's Prairie Edge is at once a gripping, darkly funny caper and a raw reckoning with the wounds that persist across generations.

About the Author

Conor Kerr is a Métis/Ukrainian writer living in Edmonton. A member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, he is descended from the Lac Ste. Anne Métis and the Papaschase Cree Nation. His Ukrainian family are settlers in Treaty 4 and 6 territories in Saskatchewan. Kerr grew up in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and other prairie towns and cities. He is author of the poetry collections An Explosion of Feathers and Old Gods and the novel Avenue of Champions, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, longlisted for the 2022 Giller Prize, and won the 2022 ReLIT Award. In 2022, he was named one of CBC's Writers to Watch.

Critical Reviews

"This is a novel wise enough to know that the future we all want begins with our imaginations. A story both sharp and fresh, Prairie Edge dreams bison back into our everyday lives, our cities, and our future. Author Conor Kerr believes the prairie is calling the bison back, and in this novel he dares to braid threads of a storied past with the troubled present and a vision of a beautiful future." --Michelle Porter, author of A Grandmother Begins the Story

"Prairie Edge is a deeply introspective, philosophizing Indigenous Western that is filled with life, love, disaster, and freedom--which reminded me so much of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses solidified in Métis epistemologies and histories. Ezzy and Grey are dynamic characters serendipitously bound through lineage and strife, and their unflinching, although largely unspoken, love for one another is Indigenous kinship at its best. Prairie Edge truly conceptualizes the verb 'herding' here we are rustled into trailer, reservation, university, foster care, and prison systems, and the violence of imperialism is never once glossed over. Don't be fooled, this novel also herds us into decolonial activism, sovereignty, and necessary criticisms all the while filled with 'poets and dreamers' and the roaring buckle of galloping Indigenous futurities. Fans of Michelle Good, Cody Caetano, and Jessica Johns--this book is for you!" --Joshua Whitehead, author of Making Love with the Land

"Prairie Edge draws from the wisdom and resilience of the ancestors to yield a strong and spirited story for today's generation and those to come. A modern storytelling master, Conor Kerr has crafted an outstanding novel that's both triumphant and tragic. I laughed, celebrated, and grieved with these characters, all of which felt genuinely familiar like cousins, aunties, friends, and more. Expertly capturing the contemporary Métis spirit, Prairie Edge is truly an essential story for our time." --Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Turning Leaves

"Searing yet compassionate, sharp yet tender. Conor Kerr's Prairie Edge is both a marvel of storytelling and a devastating critique of activists who care more about building their brands than taking care of their kin. Get swept up in this captivating story, then reckon with its startling implications." --Alicia Elliott, author of And Then She Fell

Publishing Information

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Pub date: 2024-06-04
Length: 200 pages

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